"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 9 - The Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)we agreed on those principles?"
"They seem fair," von Wilmenhorst nodded. "I'd still like to know, though, why I should work with you, effectively or otherwise." "Humanity has been exploring space for the past five centuries," Lady A began, "and has been seriously expanding into the Galaxy for the last four. During that time, our supremacy has remained unquestioned. Man has been the dominant species everywhere he went. Nowhere have we found creatures smarter than, say, monkeys were on Earth. "Suddenly, on Omicron, I think they've found us." The Head continued to walk beside her, silent except for the crunch of his leather-soled boots on the sand. When it became clear she expected some comment from him, he said, "What makes you think the events on Omicron are the result of alien contact?" Lady A found an outcropping of rock and sat down facing out to sea. The sky was darkening as the sun set behind her, and streaks of colored clouds adorned the twilight sky. "An invading force came in and decimated the planet," she said. "I know it wasn't mine, and I think I can safely assume it wasn't yours." With some trepidation, von Wilmenhorst eyed the rock on which she sat. There was room enough for another person to sit there, but that would force him into uncomfortably close contact. There was no place else to sit except the bare sand, and that would place him in an inferior position below her line of sight. He decided to stand. "Do you think you have a monopoly on treason?" he asked quietly. "Of course not. But if there were any other group in the Empire that could act on this scale, I'd know about them. Taking over an entire planet is no small task, we both know that; this force did it in a matter of hours. I happen to have a firsthand account." "Indeed? I'd like to hear it." "I'll summarize it for you. One of my operatives was working on Omicron when the invasion occurred. He tells me that an enormous fleet appeared out of nowhere, wiped out the naval base and bombed the cities into submission. They seemed to have some device that jammed all subcom transmissions, so no word could be sent out. After wiping out the token opposition that was left, the ships—which, by the way, were built in a style no one's ever seen—landed and began taking control." "If the subcoms weren't working, how did your operative contact you?" the Head interjected. "He had a small, one-man ship stashed away in the countryside. He was away from it when the invasion occurred, which was a lucky thing; if he'd tried to escape while all the alien ships were in the sky, he'd probably have been shot down. As it was, most of them were on the ground when he took off; he eluded the few that chased him and escaped into subspace. As soon as he was free of them, he called me and reported what had happened." "And he says he definitely saw these alien invaders?" "Not personally, no. There was still a lot of chaos all around him, and people were fleeing the cities and towns in large numbers. Some of the people who passed him said they saw aliens coming out of |
|
|